Explanation:
This dramatic, garishly colored image was captured with a low-light level
camera on 2001 June 7.
It shows what appears to be a "burning tree" above the National
Cheng Kung University campus in Tainan City, Taiwan ...
but the burning tree is actually a
fleeting
red sprite 300 kilometers away.
Red
sprites are
recently discovered
and still poorly understood optical flashes seen dancing
at altitudes of 30 to 90 kilometers
above thunderstorms.
Cousins to
lightning bolts,
red sprites occur near the edge
of the atmosphere and have been glimpsed by astronauts
from orbit.
What ever their cause,
the red sprite flashes usually last only
tenths to hundredths of a second and characteristically take on shapes
which researchers describe as columns, fingers, trees, or carrots.